Novia hereditas
by StealthEvolution
Summary: Life on the front lines has never been so gritty...The all consuming Chaos march has pushed the planetary forces of the Federated Sun planet of Novium to dire lengths for survival


Ignoring the sounds surrounding him the young adult closed his eyes against the sun bright sun and tried his best to relax. It wasn't often that he had time off especially since the recent pressure of the region a few hours to the south east had brought the attention of him and his co workers time. Hearing another loud klaxon go off 3 times Maine opened his eyes and sat up sighing. Great he'd just gotten out here as well. Shielding his eyes and squinting he could see the clouds of sand and dust rise announcing that a patrol was coming back. Shaking his head Maine knew he'd better head back to the hanger where naturally there would be something waiting for him. Not wasting any more time Maine turned and jogged back towards the large environmentally glaring base that made up his current home.

Stepping into the shade of the interior he realized just how hot it was out under the sun. The limited air cooling system was working today for once and the change brought a slight shiver to his skin. Quickly making his way down the corridors as directly as possible to the hanger, trying not collide with the other people that were going about their day to day business in the barracks area. For a garrison at least for the few he'd spent any amount of time in, N-DLC was more of the straight forward and easy to navigate. At least under normal circumstances, currently there were a few more people around making reports and preliminary preparations. A re-enforcement battalion or division was inbound to offer a heavier offensive role than current garrison was mustering in the current climate.

Finally reaching the hanger and quickly jogging in to a side corridor to reach the locker rooms. The klaxon which had been silent was now blaring again, 5 blasts this time he had about 5 minutes before the patrol arrived. Pushing open the locker door and almost smashing into a larger man who gave him a scathing look before pushing past and yelling back for the youth to hurry up. Fumbling with his lock and throwing on his coolant vest, gloves and tool belt. Checking everything was secure and in order he took the modified Neurohelmet from the top shelf of his locker before running back into the main hanger area jamming the slightly suffocating helmet on his head as he pushed his way out of the door again.

The hanger was looking less crowded than it normally was, there had been a few transfers to more southern and west garrisons but there must have been a sweeping pattern of patrols out. The remaining Mechs that were housed here were predominantly Light and a few Medium class Mechs. Only a fraction of the Mechs currently not in service was operating at peak condition. The rest were still showing gaping holes where rushed repairs had been carried out to make them serviceable. Aesthetics were not important at this stage. Overall despite the amount of work done by Maine and the other technicians stationed here there wasn't enough man power, not with the amount of defensive and direct offensive actions being carried out. Maine would be surprised if the Mechs here would survive another planetary action if they weren't given the time to fully look over the circuits. As the hanger doors screeched open Maine watched as the lance walked into the hanger, trying to ignore the stress being put on his limbs as the giant walkers thundered into the base causing the localized ground to shake. Almost instinctually the gathered technicians stopped what they were doing and cast a professional eye over the Shadow Cat patrol, Maine was for once thankful to see a patrol. They hadn't been caught in an engagement by the looks of things meaning all that needed to be done was a quick reactor check, ammunition check and re-storage and general cleaning. It was still a timely process carrying out the bare minimal maintenance.

"Status report Lance Commander?"

"Didn't see anything out there, dead quiet."

"When are you and your boys back out then sir?"

"We don't have anything until tomorrow morning same time but I would prep our cats for tonight in case were asked for a nocturnal recon run"

Feeling his good mood dissipate slightly as he listened to the exchange over the intercom between his director supervisor Barrage and the Lance Commander, by the sound of things they had 6 hours tops to have the Mechs ready for another patrol run. Turning his head to Barrage as the senior technician changed frequency to address the scattered repair crews.

"Your heard him lads, when the Cats are powered down and the Pilots clear drop what you're doing and start the shake down, we got about 6 hours before its confirmed about a potential Nocturnal run. Forego Ammo re-storage, just check to see that all levels are at max capacity and leave weapons hot. Once we have the red light we can change to cool down and leave the Mechs armed. Don't go telling no one about our short cuts. But there's too much going on tonight for a full shakedown."

Finding impossible not to grin as he heard the traditional flurry of abuse and swearing from the crews as they started to finish up their current tasks to prepare for the new job that was arriving. Maine however was jogging over to one of the control consoles and bringing up the required schematics of the patrol's Mechs. Running a link to the CPU's of the 4 Shadow Cats that were now reversing into their bays and bringing up the current tactical and system health of the Mechs he ran the comparison program installed and brought up the 4 files of what needed to be done maintenance wise to each of the Mechs before sending that image to each console around the hanger. Seeing that the Mechs had now powered down Maine watched with slight interest and envy as the pilots popped the cockpits and began to make their descent from the surrounding support frames.

"Standard crews boy's no goofing around, we got 6 hours."

Ignoring the general banter and jibes thrown at each other across the communication lines Maine headed to his assigned Mech and grabbing a grav trolley of heavy machinery along the way the young technician walked towards the towering giant of steel. Waiting for the MechWarrior to finish making their way down the stability frame the technician switched his communication channel to a more private team orientated channel.

"Where's our trolley gone? Does anyone know?"

"Where ever the fuck you left it."

"Nope someone's moved it. Great were going to be in the shit when Rage finds out"

"I got it, don't worry, I found it about 5 feet from the main Command Console" Maine interjected the other two from their discussion

"Thank fuck for that Main, were at the Config B aren't we?"

"Thats a Negative Snorkel. We get the brand fucking new Config C"

"Why do we get the newer shit, heaven knows it's hard enough doing two lasers let alone three...Never fucking mind checking over the ATM system connections."

"Guess you'd better hurry on over to the right Mech then Snorkel, by your dissection we need _all _the time we can get"

"Shut up Flint"

Watching as Flint the older of the pair having the argument lightly jogged over from where he'd been working on repairing some weapon system it was impossible to tell from the distance. The repair technician was 15 years or so Maine's senior and still looked 30. Unlike the others in the hanger he wore his Neurohelmet with the visor up, some would say it was stupid given the working conditions but the man was a chimney hence the nick name Flint he always carried a lighter on him. For once he wasn't smoking and his mouth was curved in a small smile. What was visible of his brown hair was matted to his forehead covered in grease and grime. Nodding over to the trolley he gave it a quick scan

"You got everything New blood?"

"Yea I do for once, shut up about the New blood thing, there are newer Techs then me here"

"I'll bet, but you're the only who one who gets wound up about it. You forgot the tension driver by the way"

Hearing a panting breath over the Comms system Maine let a smile form on his features knowing full well the crimson tint of the helmet covered his expression

"Leave it out Flint, I got the Driver that's why I was fucking asking about the Trolley. It's fucking burning my hand up."

"Hurry the fuck up snorkel, any of you too seen Beauty today?"

"Negative"

Maine shook his head a few seconds after Snorkel gasped out his response. The name was referring to the Beauties impressive ability to sleep no matter what was going on. The nick name was given during Maine's service at a prior garrison, there had been an attack and despite a nearby dorm being blasted by single rogue SRM the man hadn't even batted an eyelid.

"Calm down flint, I'm a minute away, I was working on the Hollander, the Lieutenant wanted someone to look over the barrel how the munitions wear and tear was affecting it"

"The Lieutenant gave that to you?"

"Fuck off, like I'm going to talk to the Lieutenant, he'd just ignore me and go ask Rage to do it. I heard him talking to Rage about it and decided to take a look, then pass on the results to Rage cuts out the middle man you know?"

"Yea I hear you, what's the scope on that Hollander overall?"

"It's still in good nick actually, aside from some warping of the barrel and heat damage circuits wise she's one of the better looking ones in this hanger"

"Despite how hard he runs that thing? How many times has Rage told him that he can't push that Mech like he did back in Siiet it's just too hot, heck even 5 degree's would be damaging in the long run. Eventually something's gonna give and it's either gonna be the internal electrics leaving him stranded high and dry in deep shit. Or that barrels gonna fuck up and he'll blast the reactor core killing himself"

"Well either way she's still looking good, what's the deal with the Config C you guys are bitching about"

Flint looked up at Maine with a raised eyebrow and the younger technician brought up the relevant schematics file on the console stationed at the foot of the support frame and scanned it quickly before pressing the transmit button on the side of his Neurohelmet

"Looks like the sinks need a looking over there was some minor damage done to targeting and locomotion circuits. So once we've fixed those circuits up we can start working on those sinks. Ammo looks hot no changes needed but we might wanna look over the condition of the weapons circuits and weapons just in case. The C was engaged in a fire fight last week and hasn't been tested on any weapon systems since. Looks like the reactor needs a new core as well. Oh and the Sensor suite needs fixing looks like it was fried and still not fixed. It's stuck in passive."

Watching as Flint nodded as Beauty jogged into sight and then let his smile fade slightly as he pondered the work. Maine could almost see the cogs in his mind working. They had the time to fix up all those problems but there was needed time for rest and other needed pauses. What was going to be scrapped for the time being?

"Looks like we'll leave the Sensors for the next crew, hopefully they'll have more time than us. Ok now where the fuck is snorkel?"


End file.
